Egypt in Late Antiquity 2: Egypt in Late Antiquity 2: Papyrology, a Crash CoursePapyrology, a Crash Course
Papyrus, plural: Papyri
Coptic Ostracon, 1st – 4th cent. AD
Birth Certificate on a Wax TabletLatin and Greek (128 AD)P.Mich. Inv. 766
Parchment, ca. 500 CE
Two limitations:
- Many papyri lost (see also limitations of sources for Egypt in general!) - biases in the material, e.g. by over-representing the elite and the city
Book of the Dead on papyrus, from ROM, Toronto, 4th century BCE
Philodemus Project: Papyri from Herculaneum
Oxyrhynchus: B.P. Grenfell & A.S. Hunt
Vindolanda Inventory No. 85.057
Checklist of editions:http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/papyrus/texts/clist.htmlLook up P.Oxy., P.Cair.Masp.
Looking up and searching texts in the original Greek:http://papyri.info/
Looking up information/meta-data on individual texts, archives, names, etc.: http://www.trismegistos.org/Look up info on Abinnaeus archive
Papyrology on the Web
Some remarks on the Environment (Bagnall, Ch. 1)
Inundation = flooding of the Nile
Seasons:
Inundation: late July – late November- no time for lands-but: harvesting orchard crops-Start work on vineyards- contracts- starting ploughing of fields
Germination (harvest): late November to late March- sowing-Continuing work on vineyards etc.- maintenance work
Harvest: late March – late July- harvest + threshing- Paying taxes, rents